Falling into Your Smile

I feel that I am the avatar itself. ?

*** Spoiler Alert (PERSONAL FEEDBACK)
Title : Falling Into Your Smile – 2021 (Complete 31 Episode)
Personal Rating : 8/10

Lu Si Cheng (played Xu Kai) is a Professional Esports Player and the Leader and ADC of the Esports Team ZGDX. He is also one of ZGDX's biggest shareholders. He comes from an excellent family, is good-looking, cold, and arrogant but is a softie inside. Si Cheng is a person who does things without caring about what others think about them. He cares a lot about Esports; it is his main focus in life along with his Esports team ZGDX. He graduated from a Law School at the top of his class. As well as top of the gaming industry.

Tong Yao (Played Cheng Xiao) is a member of the Esports Team ZGDX. She is cute, smart, and has a great sense of humor, and on top of that, she has a great sense of justice too. There are not that many female esports players that play well so when she first joined the Esports industry as a professional player no one really supported her that much but after working hard and winning one competition after another she proved how strong she truly was. Later on, she won the world championship and realized her dreams.

This is a light, romantic, comedy E-sport drama. The story is light and cute with a funny and likeable gamers. I even like the characters on other teams because they are funny too. There are episodes that give you butterfly in your stomach. Sometimes they are way to sweet!😅 It is also good that they show the rage and how toxic some fans are which is something we’ve seen in real life.

Overall, this drama is okay okay for me because it is a romantic comedy drama with a happy ending. The chemistry of the leads are okay too. CGIs are great! I feel that I am the avatar itself. 😅

GENRE – Modern, Comedy, Romance, E-Sport

LEAD CAST – Xu Kai , Cheng Xiao

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Falling into Your Smile: 1/6/24 ~ 1/16/24

I have watched this show multiple times and have even shown it to my little sister because of how amazing it is. While romance is one the main plots it doesn’t completely take over the story. This show also shows things such as friendships and the FL leads struggle when entering professional gaming. This was something I really liked because it allowed her to actually have depth as a character. I also like how we got to see her actually building a friendship with her teammates instead of them just welcoming her, especially given the reason as to why she was needed. Lastly I love how their relationship between the two characters made sense, and you can sorta notice when a shift in their relationship happens. Even with this it doesn’t effect there ability as professionals which is something I also really like. Also the side character’s relationship was really sweet, seeing how while the 2fl didn’t understand gaming was actually able to adapt to it because that’s what the 2ml was into. Also seeing him stick up for her even though he knows she can defend herself was really sweet. I also love how unapologetically rich she is, she knows she has money and doesn’t try to hide but still is down to earth which we can really see in her friendship with the FL.

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This one makes ME smile every time I watch

I don’t know anything about esports so I don’t know how accurate that portrayal was, but I enjoyed this one. It’s the most laugh out loud funny drama I have watched yet. I really enjoyed the banter between the leads. I have to knock it down a bit because the actor who plays the FL has the most wooden expression no matter what they are doing. It’s a bit off putting when they are supposed to be staring longingly in each other’s eyes and she just looks zoned out. This was my first time watching Xu Kai and I enjoyed his performance here. The secondary love story was also well done IMO. I could have done without some of the in game animation but the games themselves and how they affected the story line were interesting. The main love story was great with no break ups or separations. This is comfort watch at its finest and will definitely be one I revisit.

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I'm guessing the novel was better?

Let's get the positives in first. Genuinely supportive team mates, friends, family and even rivals. Cute flirting scenes. Mild humour. Gorgeous felines. Attractive looking cast.

Some attempts to tackle big subjects such as toxic fandoms and being female gamer in male dominated industry although everything felt a bit too easily resolved.

Ok, now my biggest gripes.

1) Too much assumed knowledge. I'm into games but unfamiliar with Onmyoji Arena. A quick explanation would have sufficed.

"Hey, here's a map, its features, this is the objective and some of the main characters"

They had a beautiful model of the map in the meeting room table, I don't recall them ever drawing attention to it. I couldn't enjoy the nuances of when they ban/chose the players at the beginning of each match, why was that choice shocking? I ended up looking stuff up but I don't think I should have to do that.

2) I wondered if I fell asleep in the first few episodes and missed the explanation, but the fact that my attention was not captured in the beginning shows I wasn't that into the characters personal lives either. I almost dropped the series but fortunately Lu Yue appeared and injected a bit of much needed life into the team.

3) The animated parts were visually beautiful but on occasion, especially group battles, they were wasted because of poor clarity or pacing. I can understand why some viewers skipped them.

Overall, my personal opinion is it was entertaining enough, I didn't hate it but it has unfulfilled potential. Maybe tried to do too much.

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Unexpectedly Sweet

I just finished Falling Into Your Smile, and it completely exceeded my expectations. Tong Yao is honestly the first Chinese drama heroine I’ve watched in a while who doesn’t irritate me. Her voice isn’t high-pitched or grating, and she delivers her emotions naturally and beautifully. She’s not only very pretty but also a talented character, which makes watching her scenes a real pleasure.

Lu Sicheng is equally impressive. He’s incredibly attractive, but it’s really his personality that stands out. He has this perfect “Scorpio” vibe, intense, confident, a little cold, and completely magnetic. The romance between them develops slowly but naturally, with moments that are both sweet and surprising, like when he decides to kiss Tong Yao unexpectedly. These moments feel genuine and keep you invested in their connection.

One of the aspects I loved most about the drama is its focus on gaming. The scenes remind me of League of Legends, which I really enjoy. Watching the training sessions, tactics, matches, and cinematics is exciting and visually engaging. The final game was particularly interesting, and I really enjoyed the team dynamics in that climax.

The secondary characters are also a highlight. Some of the other players are genuinely entertaining, especially Chubby and K, who both add humor and charm to the team dynamic. I also appreciated seeing Tong Yao’s ex grow as a person and learn to accept her happiness, which added depth to the story and closure to his arc.
If I had to point out negatives, the product placement throughout the series can be excessive at times. KFC, facial masks, and iced tea appear in nearly every scene, which occasionally breaks the immersion. Fortunately, it doesn’t overshadow the story or the characters.

Overall, Falling Into Your Smile is a drama I would highly recommend. It balances a slow-burning romance with engaging gaming action, memorable characters, and strong performances from the leads. It’s visually appealing, emotionally satisfying, and genuinely fun to watch from start to finish. I would give it 9 out of 10.

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A very cute Esport Drama

Since a long time i'have this drama in my MDL Recs so i tried it yesterday and damn, it's was so good.

I'm not a big watcher of modern dramas but i used to be a big games player so i said "why not" and i started Falling into your smile and it's was a very good décision.

Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao are so cute together, i think almost every review can tell you that. There almost no toxicity in this drama, its all about Esport, Romance and cutiness. I really liked how, throughout some of the episodes, they explained the difficulties of being a professional esports player, especially the somewhat lonely side of it and how difficult it can be to have a private life.
I also like that they highlight the possibility for a woman to join an esports team, even though in reality there are hardly any mixed gender teams in games like League of Legends, for example.

The team with them as support roles are very good too, very fast we become a part of their team, i laughed many times with them, The supporting characters deserved to have more developed storylines. Of course, there are quite a few stereotypes and caricatures. The characters are all good looking, the FL’s best friend could easily be a model, and the obsession with beauty is still very much present.

Overall it's a very great drama, you watch it with a cup of hot chocolate and that it.

Disclaimer: For the people who after watching this drama want to play the game, you have to know some details:

-The name of the game is Onmyoji Arena
- Almost everything you see for the game part on the drama is fake, it's a mobile only game even for the Esport part, there no keyboard or things like that, it's here only for the drama.
-The game is way more slow than what you see in the drama

Falling into your smile is a collaboration with NetEase Games for this game.

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My first 10 star rating of this year! Amazing drama!

pros:
- plot isn’t anything groundbreaking but it was well written and well paced and well rounded. i barely skipped any parts which is rare for when i watch cdramas!
- the romance and friendship in this everythinggggg!!!! it’s what made this drama so special imo the cast all had such good chemistry with one another :D
- i play MOBAs for fun and i enjoyed the game play and competition aspects of it. the animation of the fights were so inaccurate BUT i loved the more interactive touch it provided for the audience. and it was such a bonus that the FL was also playing and not just an onlooker :)
- acting was rly great!!! really aced their roles (excluding CX lol)
- kisses were fireeeeeeee <3
- all the characters were such well written. loved every one of them! i like how this drama lacked an ‘enemy’ character (the enemy were the obsessive crazy hateful fans lol)
- great cinematography, could tell the budget was pretty high in this and it paid off for sure :)
- xu kai is so good looking in modern drama!!!!!!!

cons:
- said it before but CX can’t act lol i get that her character is meant to be stoic and whatnot but like... i don’t even think she pulled it off that well. one thing she did pull of well was being shocked bc she looked like that for every scene
. not a deal breaker but was a bit jarring. she’s gorgeous though!
- FL character was also a bit irking at times. very much negative ‘i’m not like other girls’ vibes at times. and also came off as quite cold and unsympathetic to the rest of the characters. idk if it’s just the script writing, but there would b parts where it’s meant to be a heart to heart and she would just dismiss it or stand there looking shocked and provide no empathetic qualities. i think her character was the most flawed when it came to character writing.
- minor but could they not have changed up her hair as well? lol
- don’t take the esports part seriously. i wouldn’t personally consider it as hot flaw though.
- on the contrary to others, i found the second couple boring. skipped most of their scenes. it wasn’t bad though, just not interesting to me lol
- ending was rushed. it did tie things up but would have loved to see a bit more post competition team banter.
- the cats deserved more screen time!!!!! they were so cute i love cats lol

overall, i am teetering between a 9.5 or a 10. considering my enjoyment, i’ll give it a 10. a well rounded drama, gave me butterflies and literally had me on the edge of my seat during the competitions. do i recommend? yes, for sure! well-exceeded my expectations.
i don’t think the drama deserves the hate at all! a 3/10 on douban is completely inaccurate.

I really don’t understand why chinese fans are so petty. I understand there are plagiarism allegations towards the AUTHOR so it’s not fair to bring down the cast and drama THIS much. the comments on the official weibo page are so sad and the rating on douban is truly a result of people wanting to be malicious/hopping onto the hate train kind of thing. it’s ironic because this drama criticises those kind of fans and the damage they do. this drama has one of the best written characters of this year. some esports details are distorted however, this is a drama, not a documentary. people need to treat it as a piece of fiction work. and the fact that this has most likely dashed any possibility of a second season (due to high chances itll be boycotted) is so heartbreaking. I hope the cast and crew know how popular this is internationally and how many fans the cast have gained across the world as well.

best of luck to all the cast and crew for future projects and i hope theyre proud of this one :)
hopefully 明年见? ;))

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Simple and enjoyable.

Keeps you engaged, with sweet moments and an interesting mix of gameplay/tactics and personal relationship aspects.

A gaming plot is nothing new but I think they executed it very well and managed to add in some fresh aspects. Refreshing to see a gaming drama where they can work towards the same dream together. It was nice that they attempted to bring to light the issues with sexism and cyberbullying/problematic fan behaviour in the industry. The gaming terms may be a little confusing at first if you’re not familiar with them but over time you get used to them. The gameplay sections are well-balanced so you can fully enjoy the drama even if you don’t enjoy the tactics. The intermittent CGI gameplay was a nice touch so you can even enjoy the scenes even if you don’t understand the game.

What was fresh and enjoyable was that the FL was offered some opportunities for her to grow/solve problems on her own merits. Yes, she received emotional support and advice or even team support, but that makes it real. The FL is a little bit physically fragile and has a few white-knight protection moments but it’s a C-drama so it’s unsurprising. It strikes a good balance.

The romance is pure and believable and the witty personalities are a bonus. There wasn't really any unnecessary angst or dragged out/prolonged issues, so you can enjoy the show with a light and easy feeling.

A few side characters were lacking a little depth but for the most part, they seemed well-rounded and added another dimension to the story.

To sum up, it was a well-balanced drama that I think has a nice flow/pacing with lots of simple, enjoyable scenes. There wasn't anything earth-shattering about it but it was good and very easy to breeze through with well-acted, believable characters.

As to what I didn't like: The subtle anti-Korean sentiments and the obvious and awkward Korean dubbing dulled my enjoyment somewhat and it didn’t seem necessary. I thought the same rivalry effect could have been achieved while keeping it domestic. However, as someone who is English and not part of the gaming scene, there may be more subtle intricacies, or political strife, that I’m unaware of that make this necessary or valid? I would also have liked for them to explore the sexism angle a little deeper. While the issue was touched upon and started out strong at the beginning, it wasn't really a central plot issue and some of the meaning seemed to get lost along the way.

A potential for S2 if they really wanted to. Perfect as a stand-alone series as well though - a well-rounded, pleasing ending.

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CUTE AND LIGHT

I was never a fan of dramas with games as the theme. This was in my watchlist for a couple of months and after a hellish exam week, I decided to watch this because I heard this was good and light. I was surprisingly intrigued with the game. I thought that Chinese dramas like these have huge budget to develop very high quality effects. I really like Cheng-ge. He's very charming whatever his expression is. I kind of don't like the main girl's acting. Idk but I was just looking for more. Surprisingly, I found Pope the most appealing out of everyone. He has this presence that's a scene stealer. The way he smirks like omg. I learned that he's the only Chinese artist of YG Entertainment and that speaks A LOT.

Anyway, the drama is very light towards the end. It's very enjoyable and just a feel-good drama after a stressful day.

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Watch it if you have an appreciation for gaming

I started watching this show just cus, but then I saw the game and I thought it was League of Legends and I was like - YO fr? turns out it was onmyoji arena which is very similar to LOL.
If you don't like gaming/this game then I don't think you'd appreciate this show as much as someone who does. I loved this show cus of the gaming and the tournaments. The entire drama revolves around the game, so if you don't like gaming/you don't understand ppl who like it then I don't think this show is for you.
The main goal of the main leads? It's not romance, it's to win the championship, if you are watching this show, watching them play and win/lose the match and you don't like gaming you can't appreciate it. As someone who loves League and seeing a similar game play to it, the championship matches were very fun to watch.

I'm repeating the same thing, sorry, you get my point. Don't like gaming = won't appreciate this show

On the romance aspect of it:
The main characters fit really well together, not ONCE did I find any characters annoying...oh wait, other than 1 girl who liked the main guy - yk the girl who we know will never get accepted by main guy but she tries to get him, they are always annoying to me.
The guys who liked main girl however...I loved them all, especially her ex, many times I wished they would get back together even tho I was happy with the mainleads ship. I rlly liked him ngl, also the other guys who liked her/she knew were just really nice and funny and I just really liked their characters in general.

The side couple:
I'm not rlly sure what I think Jin Yang, the gf, I mean, don't get me wrong, I like her, however some things she said made me go like....uhh-okay. This girl doesn't like e-sports(fair enough) and her bf is a pro e-sport player, she's at his championship match and she's staring at her phone altho she says she's there to support her bf....Like i get that she doesn't like e-sports, but she didn't even clap when her bf won the match...I feel she was too extreme on her 'not liking e-sports' stance. If I don't like and have no clue what or how a game works, but my friend is playing in a big tournament, IF HE WINS I'LL BLOODY BE HAPPY.
So on her...other than that part I was good with her.
Her bf on the other hand....I loved him, he was so nice and fun. Loved his character.

Characters in general:
The support role characters were all rlly good, I loved every single one of them. MC's teammates? All cool. MC's gaming-rivals/friends?(like Ai Fai - the bf in the side couple. And the guys who liked her as well) they were all cool and fun and funny and YEH!

Music:
Well I love the arena music, always have always will. Just like the Leage of legends tournaments, i love the music there. VIBEEE

Lastly; the last episode was amazing. I've never been so nervous, excited, anticipated and happy at the same time before. I was one of the crowd in the show on the last episode. Cheering and screaming...it was like a real match...which ig in a way it was cus normally we watch these live matches online...

Sooo yeh, 100% watch it if you like games, if you don't like games then you can try watching it, but it won't be as interesting/fun to watch...you'll probs just skip past the matches which is just sucky to the show and yeh.

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I ALSO WANNA COLLECT STAMPS ? TOO CUTE!

Have known Cheng Xiao from WJSN and didnt know she acts! I loved all the character setups in this drama. Yaoyao is definitely candid and really straightforward. She does have emotional side at times when i feel that is super cute and helpful because she's always with a group of guys.

I would say LXC is has his cute sides as well. although he did seem a little cold at first. He has his jealous and somehow a little "pervert" sides which got me squealing cause its a little too cheesy hahah! The teamwork between ZGDX is really cute and i envy that alot! Everyone from different background coming together and work towards the championships!

This is not the only drama on gaming competitions, but it is the one you have to watch!

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